Patterns of dental anxiety in children after sequential dental visits

• Published in: European archives of paediatric dentistry Vol. 12; no. 6; pp. 298 - 302
• Main Authors: de Menezes Abreu, D. M., Leal, S. C., Mulder, J., Frencken, J. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.12.2011; European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anxiety; Appointments and Schedules; Brazil; Care and treatment; Child; Children; Dental Anxiety - prevention & control; Dental Atraumatic Restorative Treatment - psychology; Dental care; Dental Care for Children - psychology; Dental Caries - therapy; Dental hygiene; Dental Restoration, Permanent - methods; Dental Restoration, Permanent - psychology; Dentistry; Evaluation; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Male; Medicine; Mouth; Office Visits; Risk factors; School Dentistry; Brazil; dental caries; Dental anxiety; paediatric dentistry; restorative treatment; facial image scale
• ISSN: 1818-6300; 1996-9805
• DOI: 10.1007/BF03262827

AIM: To determine whether gradually exposing Brazilian children to the dental environment would decrease their levels of dental anxiety over a 14.5-month period. sTuDY DESIGN AND METHODS : The study was carried out on 302 children of both genders, aged 6–7 years old. Dental anxiety was assessed using the Facial Image Scale (FIS) at five time points: 1) before an epidemiological examination; 2) before the first treatment session; 3) before the second treatment session; 4) before the first evaluation session 5) before the second evaluation session. STSTISTICS: ANOVA, Student-t tests and ANCOVA were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in levels of dental anxiety between time points 1 and 5. Eighty-nine percent of the children with FIS score 1 or 2 at baseline had the same scores at the last time point, whereas 82% of children with FIS score 4 or 5 at baseline had a FIS score of 1 or 2 at the last time point. CONCLUSION: A gradual exposure of children to the dental environment in sequential dental visits of different natures in a school premise decreased their levels of dental anxiety over a 14.5-month period.